The "conscience clause" on steroids ~ almost equally offensive to me is that this bill is sponsored by a Dem ~ ~ emphasis/bolding below is mine ~ there are "live links" to more/corroborating information in the original ~ Sooz

AlterNet / By Alex Kane
Kentucky Seeks to Legalize Discrimination Against Gays Based on Religious Beliefs
Pending legislation in Kentucky could pave the way for increased discrimination against LGBT people.

March 11, 2013 | A pending bill in the Kentucky state legislature could pave the way for increased discrimination against LGBT people. Patheos notes that human rights groups are going to battle against a bill that would allow residents to sidestep anti-discrimination laws if they pointed to “sincerely” held “religious beliefs” that justify their actions.

The bill is sponsored by a conservative Democrat and has already passed the State Senate. The legislation would boost someone’s ability to “ignore state regulations or laws that contradict his or her ‘sincerely held’ religious beliefs,” Patheos blogger Camille Beredjick notes.

Gay rights groups are up in arms. “House Bill 279 represents a clear and present danger to the gay and lesbian community and other minority groups around the commonwealth. [The bill] does nothing more than give people permission to discriminate based on their religious beliefs, thereby taking it beyond ‘freedom of religion’ to ‘forced religion,’ because they have imposed their religious beliefs on others, with legal authority to do so,” a letter from the Kentucky Equality Federation to the Senator who introduced the bill states, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.

One State Senator, Democrat Kathy Stein, said that the legislation is “a sword to be used against minorities” and is unconstitutional.

Kentucky has no statewide ordinance against discrimination against LGBT people, but four cities in the state do have anti-discrimination laws. The bill could make it easier for people in those cities to discriminate at will against gay people.

The governor of the state, Steve Beshear, has not signaled what he will do with the bill yet.

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/kentucky-seeks-legalize-discrimination-against-gays-based-religious-beliefs

Here's what we should do. Allow everyone to decide their every move based on "religious beliefs" and grant them immunity if it breaks a law.

This is why we need freedom from religion. If religious conviction trumps civil law, why do we get upset at polygamy, at restricting the vote to God's people, at letting a daughter die from diabetes because we believed it was up to God to heal her?

Apparently this law mirrors a 1993 federal law as well as laws in sixteen other states. For the most part, it seems these types of laws have little or no effect. In fact, the Kentucky law is aimed at revising a similar existing law that was overturned in a case involving the Amish awhile back.

http://www.kentucky.com/2013/03/12/2554 ... ious.html#

Just how does the law and it's officers (judges etc) determine "sincerely held religious belief"? Is there some sort of written test or maybe a blood or litmus test? Would the bigot be required to obtain affidavits attesting to their beliefs? Would they have to be from outside sources and not friends or fellow believers to be considered impatial?

Just who can we believe about personal, intimate religious beliefs and how does one go about proving it?

Inquiring minds want to know........

Gotta get rid of these primitive beliefs.

And Tennessee doesn't want to be left out of the fracas ~ the "conscience clause" has become a "get out of jail free" card for too many ~ if you want/need a state license to practice your chosen profession, you should be required to follow ALL state laws ... including ALL anti-discriminatory laws ~ at a bare minimum, you should be required by law to refer patients to other providers if a medical or psychological need crosses your [usually convenient] religious beliefs ~ Sooz

Tennessee bill allows Christian counselors to reject suicidal LGBT students
By David Edwards
Tuesday, March 12, 2013 11:47 EDT

The Tennessee state Senate on Monday considered a bill that would allow counselors to discriminate against LGBT students, sexually-active students or anyone else based on religious objections.

Republican state Sen. Joey Hensley encouraged fellow senators to pass SB 514 to “prevent an institution of high education from discriminating against a student in the counseling, social worker, psychology programs because of their religious beliefs.”

According the The Tennessean, the bill was inspired by Julea Ward, a Christian student who was expelled from Eastern Michigan after she refused to “engage in gay-affirming counseling” by helping an LGBT student who wanted to be treated for depression in 2009. Arizona has already passed a law based on the case. Similar bills have also been proposed by lawmakers in Michigan and Georgia.

Hensley’s bill would protect any student who “refuses to counsel or serve a client as to goals, outcomes, or behaviors that conflict with a sincerely held religious belief.”

State Rep. John J. DeBerry Jr., who had been a defender of Tennessee’s so-called “don’t say gay” bill barring the discussion of homosexuality in schools, has introduced a version of Hensley’s bill in the state House. Both bills were written with the help of the conservative Family Action Council of Tennessee.

Jake Morris, the head of the counseling program at the Nashville-based Christian Lipscomb University, told The Tennessean that he objected to the bills because student counselors needed to be available to treat all clients.

“I want my students to be able to help anyone who walks in their door,” he explained. “For example, if a student thinks divorce is sinful, that student still needs to know how to treat clients who have gone through a divorce.”

“We are health care professionals,” Morris added. “We need to act like it.”

The New Civil Rights Movement’s David Badash observed that the bill seemed to be using religion as a “door to hide and cower behind.”

“The concept of so-called ‘religious liberty’ as it’s being (mis)used is faulty,” Badash wrote on Tuesday. “If anti-gay people want a reason to not help gay people, they should have the personal courage to do so, and accept the consequences.”

The Tennessee state Senate tabled discussion of SB 514 until next Thursday to give senators a chance to discuss amendments. A House subcommittee was expected to consider DeBerry’s version of the bill on Tuesday.

Watch this video from Tennessee State Senate, broadcast March 11, 2013. [Sooz comment: video is accessible via the end link]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/12/tennessee-bill-allows-christian-counselors-to-reject-suicidal-lgbt-students/